Naruto: Rikudo Sennin Project
by BlackMadness
Summary: [AU] Orochimaru kidnaps a newborn, Naruto, and uses his body to recreate the Rikudou Sennin's power. Unfortunately, as Jiraiya attempts to rescue him, Orochimaru had to stop Naruto's DNA overwriting process. Thanks to that, his DNA undergoes a mutation. (Mokuton/Sharingan/Rinnegan Naruto) (NarutoHarem). [Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto]
1. Prologue-Interlude(Part1): A Rainy Night

**[AN]:** Before any of you start to read, I'd like to clarify you on a few things.

AU: The first thing would be that this is an Alternate Universe story, so there will be both minor & major changes from cannon (That much should be obvious). An example of a major change would be the **Uchiha Massacre not taking place.**

Pairings: Overall, I do plan to make this a Harem fic. Although serious romance won't start until Story II. Story I takes place before the cannon story started, so having a crush would be the limit. On his journey, he may run into future harem candidates, but as of right now I can only confirm three of them.

Harem(In no specific order): Tayuya; Anko; Temari - I might add a few more in the future.

Reason they were picked: their personalities and they're may favorite Naruto x Girl pairings.

Update: It sucks, but the chapter posts will be slow and inconsistent, due to family problems.

**Story I**: This will take place before Naruto was 13 years old. Probably between age 6-11. Story I would mostly be about adventures that mold Naruto's personality and learning about his Mokuton Release and his Sharingan. I will try, for the most part, to keep his cannon personality, with a few tweaks of course.

Now that a few things cleared up, I hope you enjoy the story! 

* * *

**_Naruto: Rikudo Sennin Project (Story I)_**

_-Prologue-_

**From Konoha's Academy History Textbook:**

**[**_October tenth, arguably the worst date in Konohagakure history as three devastating events took place that day. The first hit that Konoha suffered was the Kyuubi's attack. With the sudden appearance of the mountain sized kitsune, the shinobis and villagers were unprepared for the havoc that would befall them. The Kyuubi destroyed everything in it's path, from towering hotel buildings to small neighborhood parks. Any living creature that would catch it's attention would be immediately struck down by it's claws or it's tails. Konoha would have been reduced to nothing if it hadn't been for the intervention of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. Using the __**Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)**__ to teleport the Kyuubi away from the village, the Yondaime was successful in killing it, although this lead to his heroic death. As the second tragedy, sacrificing himself for the village, the Yondaime was able to perform a kinjutsu to rid the monster out of existence. With the Yondaime gone, the Sandaime reclaimed the empty Kage seat immediately. Finally, the last strike that Konoha took was the massive kidnapping that took place at the hospital. An estimated 80-105 children, ages ranging from newborns to 4 year old, were abducted while most of the shinobi forces were focused on fighting the Kyuubi. With these three blows Konohagakure suffered on that fateful day, October the tenth, thus became a holiday that was dubbed Ochiba (Dead Leaves/Fallen Leaves). From that day on Konoha…_**]**

The text above would be the current knowledge for the people of Konoha and anyone else who was interested in the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha incident, with the exception of Sarutobi Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Shimura Danzo, the Konoha Council, and a few others. The news about the Kyuubi being killed either frustrated people or eased people. The former were frustrated because they wanted that power for themselves. The latter were eased because they were glad that the strongest village suffered a huge loss in military-power. Either way, with this information leaked out, many villages have sent out shinobi units all over the counties to capture the Kyuubi as a means for their 'secret weapon.' This all, however, was only a cover-up since only a partial of the text was true.

For the few people in Konoha who knew the truth about the Kyuubi incident, they tried to stay alert while not being suspicious. They tried to gather information on the Masked-Man who invaded Konoha, being the one responsible for the day of Ochiba (Dead Leaves/Fallen Leaves). When Naruto was finally born, the Masked-Man was able to infiltrate the secured cave with a space-time ninjutsu, successfully freeing the Kyuubi, where he soon after took control of the beast. After driving the man away Minato teleported the Kyuubi and himself far off from the village, soon followed by his newborn son, Uzumaki Naruto. Minato then proceeded to use the **Dead Demon Consuming Seal** to seal the Kyuubi's Yin chakra inside himself and then he sealed the Kyuubi's Yang chakra

inside Naruto. With Minato being in a weakened state, Orochimaru appeared out of nowhere and abducted the Jinchuuriki. No one was quick enough to stop him as he escaped Konoha with his plan being a success. The next day, it was revealed that a mass abduction occurred. Knowing Orochimaru, they knew that the children were test subjects for his experiment; with only that much information, the Sandaime and everyone else who knew more about the day of Ochiba had put in extreme effort to find the missing-nin of the Leaf village.

* * *

**_Naruto: Rikudo Sennin Project (Story l)_**

_-__Interlude (Part One)-_

_The Stars Are Hidden On A Rainy Night_

In an undisclosed location, a base laid deep underground. A more specific place, a tall, slender 'man' with black hair that went a few inches under his shoulders, stood in one of the many labs the structure contained. The facility had many objects laid everywhere; things like scrolls, test tubes, and other instruments. In the middle of the room there were rows and rows and rows of human capsules. These capsules were in ten rows of eight. Each of these capsules had an infant with a dozen tubes stuck to them, with fluids running inside of them.

This place was one of the many hideouts that Orochimaru, one of the Three Legendary Shinobi, constructed. He was an extraordinary ninja with a desire to obtain all known ninjutsus. After Namikaze Minato was named the Yondaime Hokage, Orochimaru had no reason to stay in Konoha and began to be less careful with his actions. Soon after, he began his project to recreate Hashirama's Wood Release be rewriting the DNA of sixty kidnapped children. Unfortunately for Orochimaru, as his test subjects began dying off, the Sandaime, Sarutobi Hiruzen, caught him red-handed and was forced to escape the village; making him a missing-nin and an S-rank criminal altogether.

A few years ago, he rebooted his 'failed' experiment of recreating the Wood Release. Why would he do that? Simple. It's because it didn't fail. As if a small light appeared in the darkness of failure, one out of all sixty children lived thru the experiment. Orochimaru was informed about the boy from one of his subordinates that infiltrated Konoha's ANBU. Although the kid's full ability was pale in comparison to Senju Hashirama, he was able to use the Wood Release to a great degree, nonetheless. That boys mere presence was proof that Orochimaru's experiment promised great success if he continued.

In the lab Orochimaru was currently in, the capsules held all the kids from Konoha that he kidnapped a few years back. Well, at least all the children that _lived_ from the experiment. Out of eighty capsules, only fifteen contained life in them. It might not seem like much, but it would be considered huge progress if you compared it to the first time he attempted this experiment. With just the fifteen successful test subjects alone, he felt extreme satisfaction. But what brought him the feeling of euphoria would be the lone capsule that stood away separate from the rest.

"Three years have past since then. Three years since I started to rewrite your DNA to make it as close to the Rikudo Sennin as humanly as possible," Orochimaru said to himself as he gazed at the Kyuubi's current Jinchuuriki inside the the capsule that was easily three times the size as the others in the room.

After researching the Rikudo Sennin for years he had faith that he could at least make one fiftieth of his power. He examined both the Senju and Uchiha DNA and made countless DNA structures that would give the closest results he can get to recreating the the first shinobi. Though he had both DNA's of Madara Uchiha and Senju Hashirama his base structure was still an Uzumaki.

"Your DNA has been going through many changes Uzumaki Naruto. Since I've rewritten half of your DNA to that of the strongest Senju, Hashirama, and half of the rest of your DNA to that of the strongest Uchiha, Madara, they have both been slowly integrating with each other rather well," a creepy smirk appeared across his face. Orochimaru theorized that since the the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan were derived directly from Rikudo Sennin, then by combining both DNA structures together, and eliminating genes that weren't related to both former and latter as much as possible, then they should react to each other. Of course the fusion of both DNAs wouldn't start without a little push from Orochimaru.

"I'm amazed at how quickly your DNA has been progressing. Soon ,when your complete, I'll pass down all the ninjutsus I know to you and when the time is right I'll make your body mine. Heh heh heh heh," Orochimaru declared as he laughed wickedly to himself."Well then, time to wake up the rest of my pillage," he turned around towards the rest of the capsules and called out to four of his minions. "You two on the left, go dispose of the failed experiments. You two on the right, take the succeeded experiments to the washroom to get them cleaned, then put them in the 'nursery.' Now go, " Orochimaru commanded.

"Hai!" they responded in unison as they left to perform their order.

A few miles away from Orochimaru's hideout, a unit of three was approaching with great speed. The team consisted of two of Konoha's ANBU, one had a mask that resembled a dog and the other one's resembled a cat, and one of the Three Legendary Shinobi. Hatake Kakashi, Tenzo, and Jiraiya were now heading over towards Orochimaru's secret base.

Thanks to Jiraiya's spy network, he was able to track down his former comrade's location. After years of searching, he would finally be able to confront the snake sannin that not only betrayed his hidden village, but he kidnapped his student's child. Jiraiya led his unit towards Orochimaru with the intent to kill him and hopefully to find his one and only godson. Ever since Jiraiya learned of Naruto's kidnapping, he had been looking all across the continent took hunt down Orochimaru. Jiraiya, knowing full well that the pedo-snake wouldn't stray far from the countries that were dubbed as The Five Great Shinobi Countries, searched from the barren, rocky terrain known as the Land of Earth to the mountainous ranges known as the Land of Lightning. His constant searching bearded fruit at last as he was informed of Orochimaru being seen inside the Fire country near a town that bordered the Land of Wind. Not wasting time after the Sandaime gave the word, Jiraiya setted out with Kakashi and Tenzo, hell-bent on ending his former friend.

Kakashi had similar feelings. As the Yondaime's student he felt partly responsible for letting his teacher's only son get kidnapped. When he got news that Jiraiya located Orochimaru, he pleaded with all his heart to let him take part in this mission, which he did get to. Before departing the village, he swore to himself that once Naruto is taken into custody, he himself would protect the kid with all of his life. For Kakashi, this would be the least he could do for his late sensei.

* * *

Bordering the Land of Wind is Amegakure. A fitting name since it constantly rains there due to the storm clouds that always looms over the village. While the Amegakure is small, it is highly industrial. This proven from the many metallic skyscrapers and the large quantity of power lines that make up the village. The noticeable tower just happened to also be the tallest. The tower's most distinctive feature would be the four humanoid faces that circled around the top of the structure. Each face had Rinnegan-like eye patterns, with an open mouth that had a tongue sticking out. Pipes ran across the cheeks with piercings all over it's face.

Sitting on the tongue of the humanoid was a man. The man wore a long, black cloak with red clouds and a collar that stopped at the chin. He had short-spiky, orange hair that stood above the Ame forehead protector. Metallic, cylinder rods were pierced on the side of his nose and around the perimeter of his ears. What made him stand out the most was his eyes. The base color of his eye's were light purple and they had a ripple like pattern that started from his pupil and spreaded outwards. These eyes were one of the three greatest doujutsus, next to the Byakugan and the Sharingan. They were the legendary Rinnegan.

Sitting there emotionlessly as the sun was almost hidden in the horizon, he gazed at the stars that peeked out from the clouded sky. A rainless Ame was quite rare due to the storm clouds. And when it did stop raining it never lasted long, thus being the reason for his star-gazer attitude. Basking in the faint starlight he savored the moment as the clouds slowly started to thicken, concealing the sky.

"Pain."

The the orange haired man shifted his head to look at the person who called him.

"Tobi. What might had happen for you to approach me? Did you find another potential member?" Pain asked the Akatsuki member that wore an orange-spiral mask.

"Yes. That's actually the reason I approached you," replied Tobi. "I'd like you to send out your Akatsuki members to retrieve him."

"I see. So, who's the man that caught your attention?"

"His name is Orochimaru. A missing-nin from Konoha."

Pain raised his left eyebrow slightly at the mention of his name. _'Hoh. So it's Jiraiya-sensei's former teammate.'_

"Judging from your reaction, I assume you know our target?"

Pain gave a slight nod. "Our paths had crossed once during the third shinobi war, a war in which our village had forcefully served as a battlefield," he said with a neutral expression.

"I see. Well then, he's currently located inside the Land of Fire, right next the border of the Land of Wind," Tobi said before he turned around to make his leave. As he reached the door that lead to the tower's interior, he stopped abruptly and looked over the shoulders to see Pain, who's now standing. "Oh. And I suggest you send your retrieval team as soon as you can. You'll miss him if you delay time."

Pain nodded, knowing what he meant by that.

"Konan."

"Hai, Kami-sama" she responded as paper sheets started to take form of woman in an Akatsuki cloak. As the last piece of paper was put in place, the full appearance of the woman showed. She had blue hair, side bangs that stopped right under her chin, amber colored eyes, with lavender eye shadow. A sphere piercing under her bottom lip and a large, light blue paper flower on the top-right side of her head finalized the beauty's appearance.

"Tell Toshiaki, Shizuko, and Hidan that there's a new member I want them to retrieve."

"You want to send Toshiaki and Shizuko on a retrieval mission? Why not just Hidan? I'm sure just him would suffice enough to do it."

"I completely agree."

"Then why?" Konan questioned Pain for the second time.

"Toshiaki has been pestering me with mission requests. Besides, with both Toshiaki and Hidan gone, the tower will finally have a few moments of peace."

"Sighhhh..."

Letting out a heavy sigh in response to her troublesome teammate, she shunshined out to relay Pain's message. Having nothing else to do for the moment, Pain sat back down on the tower's tongue with one leg bent, his knee pointing upwards, arms behind him serving as leverage for his body. His head tilted upwards as he now gazed at the gray clouds as the weather resumed it's rainy setting. As he let the rain shower over his figure, slowly closing his eyes, he whispered to himself a favorite phrase of his.

"The stars are hidden on a rainy night."

* * *

Without putting in much effort, bickering could be heard throughout the tower…

"JASHIN-SAMA DEMANDS BLOOOOD! GIVE ME YOUR BLOOD, UCHIHAAAA!"

"FUCK OFF PSYCHO PRIEST! YOUR JASHIN-SAMA CAN EAT CRAP!"

"WHAT WAS THAT YOU SHITTY UCHIHA! YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL THAT THE LORD WOULD SETTLE FOR YOUR CRUDE BLOOD! NOW, STAND STILL AND GIVE JASHIN-SAMA BLOOD!"

_'Sigh... can't they both get along for just one damn minute,'_ thought a mute girl practicing taijutsu far from her two teammates.

* * *

**[AN]**: And that's the end of my first post. Toshiaki and Shisuko are both OCs that I created. So, Hidan from the cannon Akatsuki is one of the first members of the group. Why? I'll find another time tell you.

I've got nothing else to say, so later!


	2. Interlude(Part 2): Abandoned Experiment

"Talk"

_'Thoughts'_

**[**Written Text**]**

_*Sound Effects*_

**"Dark/Tailed-Beast Talk"**

**_'Dark/Tailed-Beast Thoughts'_**

**_Naruto: Rikudo Sennin Project (Story I)_**

_Interlude (Part Two)_

_-Abandoned Experiment-_

"JASHIN-SAMA DEMANDS BLOOOOD! GIVE ME YOUR BLOOD, UCHIHAAAA!"

"FUCK OFF PSYCHO PRIEST! YOUR JASHIN-SAMA CAN EAT CRAP!"

"WHAT WAS THAT YOU SHITTY UCHIHA! YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL THAT THE LORD WOULD SETTLE FOR YOUR CRUDE BLOOD! NOW, STAND STILL AND GIVE JASHIN-SAMA BLOOD!"

_'Sigh... Can't they both get along for just one damn minute,'_ thought a mute girl practicing taijutsu far from her two teammates. In the training room of the Akatsuki tower, three Akatsuki-nins, wearing their organization's signature cloak, were 'standing by', waiting for their next mission to eventually be given to them. The mentioned 'psycho priest' and an Uchiha were currently 'sparring' with each other, while the girl practiced by herself.

Hidan, the priest, stood at 5ft 10in, had dull-silver slicked back hair, and purple eyes. He wore his cloak open with no shirt. A Yugakure forehead protector and a Jashin amulet were tied around his neck. With dark green nails, he was gripping his red Triple-Bladed Scythe that had a black rope coming out of the bottom of the snath with the rope vanishing to the inside of his left sleeve.

The man arguing with Hidan went by the name of Uchiha Toshiaki. He stood at 6ft 1in and had black shoulder length hair, which slightly curled up. He had sideswept bangs that covered his whole right eye and part of his cheeks. His left eye was exposed, revealing a red eye with three black tomoe seals circling a black pupil. His fully matured Sharingan was always kept activated, since the amount of chakra he needed to exert was extremely insignificant. Toshiaki always wore a smile on his face, refusing to show any other emotion that wasn't positive. Even now as he argued with Hidan, his smile never ceased to falter.

The sole female of the trio with snowy-white skin was named Hyuuga Shizuko. She had a small figure, as shown by her height of 5ft 5in and her modest B-size breasts. Her dark purple hair was styled similarly to Toshiaki, except that her hair was straight. Just like Toshiaki, she also had sideswept bangs that covered her right eye; with the only difference being that the bang started from the top left of her forehead, curving right as it came down over her eye. Shizuko's uncovered left eye was cat-like sharp and pure white. Finalizing her appearance was a choker necklace; an onyx black diamond showing in the middle of her neck, while black chain links wrapped around her neck.

Beside Pain, Konan, and a certain plant person, these three were the only other members Akatsuki had at the moment. It has been almost a year since they were brought into the organization. Their story on how they joined wasn't anything special. While the three of them have been wandering around as mercenaries, a goofy and zealous man with an orange spiral mask and a plant-humanoid approached them. They were told that if they joined Akatsuki and fulfilled the organization's objective, they would get one 'wish'. Hidan, who just became an immortal, also agreed, but not as quick as them. As long as he create senseless chaos and mass destruction, he didn't really care where he would go.

"CRUDE BLOOD?! I DEFINITELY DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM YOU OF ALL PEOPLE!"

"Hn?! What the hell are you trying to say?!"

"Nothing much, really. It's just that priests really like to 'save' little boys. Am I right?"

_*Swiiiiish*_

The sound of blades running through air was heard the next second. Hidan had his left are extended to where Toshiaki used to stand, Triple-Bladed scythe in hand, and a huge tick mark on the side of his head. Toshiaki appeared out of smoke cloud several yards behind his previous position, still smiling at the priest.

To say Hidan was pissed would be an understatement. He was beyond pissed. If you look at a list of things that angered him, not many things really got him to a high level of rage, but it just so happens to be that priest stereotypes were almost at the top of the list. Re-attracting his left hand, he leaned his scythe on the side of himself, then he clasped his hands together, making him look like he was praying.

Toshiaki knew what he was doing. It happened every time Hidan wanted to kill someone. So, with a grin still on his face, he positioned himself into a pre-sprint stance. He leaned forward, left leg in front , slightly bent and his right leg in the back, also slightly bent. Toshiaki left his arms dangling from his body, as if they had no muscles to provide movement for them. Once Hidan made the first move, Toshiaki would pummel him into the ground.

"Jashin, please watch over me, this time, I am really going to do it, I am going to tear his intestines out…."

As Hidan readied himself into a stance, a vortex of paper appeared between the two. Seeing Konan appear in front of them could only mean one thing. Someone was assigned a mission. Breaking out of their stances, they gathered around the papered figure to find out who or whom would get to leave on a mission.

"Toshiaki, Shizuko, Hidan, Pain-sama has assigned you all to a retrieval mission."

"Hn?! You mean I gotta be with these doujutsu users? I'm more than enough for a retrieval mission-"

"Pain-sama's orders," interjected Konan before Hidan could finish his rant. She then tossed each of them a black rod.

_*Scribble*Scribble*Scribble*_

**[**What are these for?**]** asked Shizuko, holding up a rather large note card with her question written on it, clutched by her left hand, while she held the rod with her right.

"These are chakra receivers. They are necessary to summon you," Konan replied.

"Summon?! What do you mean 'summon'?" Hidan asked as it was on the minds of the other teammates. Though, he was ignored as she continued on.

"The target is located inside the boundaries of the Land of Fire, next to the border of the Land of Wind. The three of you are tasked with locating and escorting the target back here. Any questions?"

Toshiaki's hand shot up, instantly, "Oo! Oo! Oo!"

"Yes, Toshiaki."

"What if he doesn't want to come?" he asked in a questioning tone.

"Simple… Force him."

Then, all of a sudden, the chakra receivers the three held onto started to vibrate weakly, as it started to give off heat. Toshiaki and Hidan were too stunned to utter a word, while Shizuko, being a mute, obviously couldn't, but her eyes widened in shock.

"Oh and one last thing," Konan said as sheets of papers started to disperse from her figure. "Bring back those receivers at all cost."

_*Puff*_

_**(~ S1 ~)**_

_*Puff*_

"_Cough Cough_ What the _Cough_ hell was that _Cough_," Toshiaki said while coughing violently. Shizuko only briefly made light coughs.

"_GAK! AWK! COUGH! COUGH! KASHL! Cough_," Hidan seemed worse off than the other two.

"Hah! What's wrong Priest-kun? Can't take being on the other side of a blow job? How do you think those little boys felt?" Toshiaki asked sarcastically. "Heh. Well, in the words of Leader 'Now that you've learned their pain, you shall learn to grow up.' HAHAHAHAHA!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!" the priest, who finally stopped coughing, snapped at the taunting Uchiha.

_'Great. They're at it again,'_ thought Shizuko as she rolled her eyes. Deciding to get their attention, she clapped twice.

Gaining the two's attention, the three turned around to the figure that had summoned them. The summoner was almost as tall as Toshiaki. He had long, orange hair that was tied into a high ponytail and a side band on the right side of his neutral face. His forehead had a forehead protector with the Amegakure symbol and a slash that ran across it. The man had pale skin and his face had multiple mini-chakra receivers pierced in. But the most distinctive feature about him would be his Rinnegan eyes.

"Oo! This must be one of your other bodies that you mentioned, right Leader?!" Toshiaki announced happily.

"That is correct," he responded. "Due to some circumstances, I was unable to summon you closer to the target. Your target's name is Orochimaru. A missing-nin from Konohagakure. Here is a picture of him," the summoner said as he gave them a picture of their target.

"Holy shit! What a coincidence!" the Uchiha yelled, gaining everyone's attention. Hidan was the fastest to ask him the question.

"What is it? Someone you recognize?"

"Can't you see who this is?!" yelled out Toshiaki.

_'I don't like where this is going. Sigh...'_ thought the girl, knowing fully well what her partner was going to say. She really didn't care so much, but there was a time and place for these kinds of things.

"Look at those predator like eyes and that slimy, creepy grin that screams I'm 'good' with kids!" he yelled out with a 'shocked' expression. "He's a spitting image of you, Hidan! We finally found your father!"

"You know what, Uchiha? EAT A DICK!" retorted Hidan.

"_Ahem_."

The two loud-mouth Akatsuki members turned their heads too see their Leader's other body with an impatient expression. They instantly bowed their heads in apology and yelled out their apology, "Gomen nasai, Leader!"

"Moving on. His location is two miles north-east from here. Depending on when you get there, you might run into some 'obstacles.' If you come across them, eliminate them. Understand… Now go."

"Hai!"

'Pain' gave a nod to their response as they quickly dashed through the trees in the direction their target would be located at.

* * *

"_Huff_… _Huff_… _Huff_… Here… He's in here…. _Huff_… _Huff_… Orochimaru… _Huff_… today will be your last. I will destroy that dark path that you have taken; and I will take Naruto and the rest of the kids you've kidnapped. Just you wait," Jiraiya whispered to himself as he slowly regained the usual tempo of his breath and heartbeat. Behind him, Tenzo and Kakashi were also both slowly regaining their breath.

In front of them was Orochimaru's current hideout. On the surface, it was under the tree. There was a cave-in on the side that had a hallway leading underground. The three Konoha shinobi's assumed that it was the entrance to the underground facility.

"Alright you two. Our prime objective is to kill Orochimaru and finding any surviving kids, got it?"

"Hai!" responded the two ANBU men. Now with their breathing intact, they stealthily descended into the hallway, darkness slowly consuming them due to the lack of lighting.

**_(~ S1 ~)_**

Inside the base, where the lab that used to contain all the kidnapped Konoha children, Orochimaru was currently in front of the capsule that contained his Rikudo Sennin experiment. He knew Jiraiya had already infiltrated his base, a little earlier than expected, but nothing he couldn't handle.

"_Sigh_… you were only ninety-seven percent upon completion, huh? Just three years and you were almost the replication of the the first and the greatest shinobi that had ever lived."

Orochimaru started to unhook the tubes from the little boy. He felt his four minions approaching him from behind.

"You four," Orochimaru called out to them. "Quickly dispose of the ones that aren't prepared to take."

"Hai!" and they quickly shunshined out.

"Hoh?" was all the snake sannin said as he noticed that two of them didn't move from their spots. "Explain to me why you choose to defy my orders?"

From Orochimaru's point of view, the shinobi on the right stepped forward as he pulled out a kunai and took an offensive stance.

"Orochimaru, for defecting from Konohagakure and the massive kidnapping on two accounts, you shall be granted death."

"I see. May I ask who sent you?" he asked sarcastically.

For Orochimaru, Konoha wasn't the only village that wanted him dead. He's infiltrated many villages before and killed many of them for hidden techniques. Though, Orochimaru knew this shinobi in front of him was from Root, an officially discontinued sub division from ANBU that Danzo still continues with.

Then his mind wandered to the shinobi on his left that never moved the slightest muscle. The man emitted the same dark chakra any Root member had. But for some reason, he didn't mimic the stance the shinobi next to him assumed. _'Who is he?'_ thought the snake sannin. His question would soon be answered.

In one full motion, the shinobi on his left pierced the Root-nin through the heart. Re-attracting the kunai from the fresh corpse, the body made a thud sound as it hit the ground, lifelessly. The still unknown shinobi that stood over the dead body then turned to face Orochimaru and flashed him a grin. His body then slowly started to take a different form. The man's left half turned pale white, while the right half turned into deep black. He had yellow eyes and short green hair. From the sides, he was enveloped by venus flytrap-like extensions, giving him a plant-like appearance. Of course, he wouldn't be complete without the Akatsuki cloak.

"Hello! I'm Zetsu," he said in an upbeat manner, while Orochimaru resumed to take out the little Uzumaki out of his capsule.

"Who sent you? And for what reason?"

"Hai hai! I'm from Akatsuki. We're- **here to take you to our headquarters**. Awww… I wanted to tell him."

_'Seems like they're two different beings that fused together. How interesting,'_ thought the snake sannin as he finally took Naruto out, while wrapping him in a towel. _'Wait… Akatsuki? Haven't they recently won a civil war against Hanzo of the Salamander? I heard that after his death, the leader of Akatsuki took position of Village Head of Amegakure.'_

With the kid finally wrapped, he turned to the plant humanoid.

"Okay! Are you ready?" Zetsu said cheerfully.

"May I ask why the Village Head of Amegakure seeks an audience with me?"

"Well… Right now, we can't tell you anything, but- **this will benefit any of your future experiments**. Oi! You interrupted me again!"

_'Hmmm… I guess there's no harm in going,'_ Orochimaru thought. "Alright. Let's head out immediately," he said as he made his way out of one of many exits.

Zetsu, while following the sannin, found this odd as Orochimaru didn't mind leaving his other test subjects that were completed. "Hey! What about your other experiments. I'm sure you noticed that the other two were also from Root. Shouldn't you be more precatious?"

Orochimaru lips the curled up at the plant's question. "There will be no need for that. They may have lived through the experiment, but that doesn't mean they were truly a success. Yes, there is a chance that they might have the reproduced Wood Release. But there also exist the chance of not having it; even worse would be the cell's having a negative side effect on their bodies."

"**Understandable, but what if they-** use them as tools for war, or what if they try to replicate your experiment? Hah! Take that! Doesn't feel good to be interrupted does it!"

Orochimaru ignored the white-Zetsu's last statement. "To answer the first question, I do not care if they use them as tools. They only served to increase my data, so I can make ones with greater power in the future. Besides, it's not like those Konoha children were my only test subjects," he said as a smirk naturally surfaced on his face. "And for your second question, I used my snake senjutsu to protect the cellular structure of my experiments. No one can gain knowledge from them. Heh."

They soon ascended a hallway that lead to the outside. Though instead of coming out of a tree, like the entrance, they came out of a huge boulder to be greeted by the high raised moon. The area in the surrounding was made up of leafless trees, orange, yellow, and red leaves covered the ground, a few clearings here and there. To the right of the entrance, the side of a cliff, that stood over a hundred feet in height towered over the area. They walked over to the trees that were about twenty feet in front of them and just stood there. Orochimaru still had the baby, caring him under his left arm.

"Ah! Our escorts are here!" Zetsu shouted as dark silhouettes appeared, jumping from tree to tree, as three figures got closer.

"And it seems Jiraiya finally caught up."

From behind Orochimaru, five figures appeared from the hole of the boulder. Jiraiya stood in the middle-front of the five. Kakashi and Tenzo stood to the left of Jiraiya, their masks was on the side of their heads, revealing their faces. The two Root-nins stood to the right of Jiraiya, their names still unknown.

The three figures that Zetsu was talking about, landed in front of the duo of the snake sannin and the plant humanoid.

"Yo! We're here to escort you, Pedochimaru-san," the first figure said

"W-what did you call me?" asked Orochimaru, a little dumbfounded at what he was called.

"Doesn't matter," the figure with the slick back hair answered. Then he looked at the people that were behind their target. "Well, now that we're here, we might as well kill them," he said again, but this time with a smile.

"Those cloaks… Are you four from Ame? What business does your village have with Orochimaru?" Jiraiya questioned with suspicion.

"If you want to know, oh, so badly, then force us," Hidan said with a sickly grin.

_*Scribble*Scribble*Scrabble*Scribble*_

**[**It is too dark out. Toshi will stall them, as we make our way back to base.**]**

"Nani? There are five blood bags in front of me and you want me to not cut them? That is against Jashin's wishes.!" screamed Hidan.

"Oh, shut up priest. Just listen to Shizuko-chan and-"

"Oi! You should keep your guard up, or you'll regret it later," Jiraiya said, interrupting the quarreling shinobis. The five Leaf-nins positioned themselves for an attack, which was noticed by Orochimaru.

_'Guess I should put my experiment into one final good use,'_ the snake sannin thought while he summoned a human sized snake.

As if it were planned, the snake took the baby in Orochimaru's arms and slithered with lightning speed into the sidelines of the forest. Jiraiya and Kakashi were the first ones to act, choosing to chase the snake. The other three Leaf-nins were took aback for a second by the incident before they chose to dash towards the enemy. Unfortunately, that was enough time for Toshiaki to make three 'special' clones. As the three bunshins stood in the way of the oncoming Leafs, the group consisted of Akatsuki members and Orochimaru started to flee, off towards Amegakure.

Once Tenzo and the Root-nins got close enough to the clones, they heard them yell out a jutsu.

"**Enton: Bunshin Daibakuha (**_Blaze Release: Clone Great Explosion_**)!**"

Unable to dodge in time, Tenzo quickly summoned a spacious wooden dome covering them from the black flames that the clones bursted into. The whole area in the surrounding was set ablaze with the unique flames, made the three Leaf-nins unable to pursue their target any further.

"Don't touch these flames. Once they ignite on something, they won't diminish until it's target is completely disintegrated," Tenzo warned the other two. They gave an understanding nod as a reply.

_'Sorry, Jiraiya-sama. Looks like he got away again…'_ the Wood Release user sighed knowing that the toad sannin would be disappointed.

* * *

Already a mile away from the scene, the five shinobis started to slow their pace, figuring they were safe. Since their departure, Zetsu has been in deep thought wondering why Orochimaru would easily discard the one special experiment subject. Orochimaru may have pointed out that no one would be able to see the DNA structure, but there was a huge- no, there was an absolute chance that Konoha would use him as a weapon. Not only was the young boy a jinchuuriki, but he had both cells of the strongest Uchiha and Senju.

Giving up on trying to figure out the answer for himself, he turned his head to the snake sannin and asked, "Orochimaru. Why did you give them one of your most valuable test subjects?"

"It's simple. He was just a milestone," Orochimaru answered. He noticed the plant-humanoid's confused expression and decided to continue. "I want him to live on, so I can measure the skills of any future experiments that I used my data on."

Although there were still many things he wanted to ask, Zetsu decided against it.

"Okay… well then, I- **will make my depart now. See you later**. God damn it! Stop doing that!"

Zetsu then stopped at a branch and he slowly disappeared into tree.

_**(~ S1 ~)**_

On top of the cliff, a figure sat securely on the edge with his feet dangling off the ledge. Tobi witnessed everything that unfolded before him almost an hour ago. The area underneath him was mostly in ruins, thanks to the Uchiha's Amaterasu's flames. When he came here to observe them out of boredom, he didn't really expect anything to catch his interest. His apathy soon vacated him as he saw Orochimaru holding a baby. Curiosity nudged him into activating his Sharingan to examine the boy. His eyes widened when he felt the boy giving out four different chakra signatures, two big ones and to smaller ones. The the biggest one of the two he identified to be the Kyuubi's; he assumed the other to be the kid's natural Uzumaki chakra. The two smaller ones interested him to no end. One of the chakra signature he noticed belonged to one of the founder's of Konohagakure, Senju Hashirama, while he also felt the faint chakra signature of the other founder of Konohagakure, the man who saved him from death, Uchiha Madara.

_'I knew Orochimaru was experimenting with Hashirama's cells again. However, I did not anticipate him to try and recreate the power of the Rikudo Sennin, and what more than to use the Kyuubi's container as a guinea pig. Hmm… he could provide great assistance to my goal. I'll send Zetsu to find the mask of the Shinigami, so I could use the kid as my own weapon instead of sacrificing him. Using only one half of the Kyuubi's chakra won't set my plans back any more than a few minutes.' _

Tobi snapped out of his thoughts when he felt the presence of his only 'friend' appearing behind him. He stood up from the ledge and turned to Zetsu. Instead of being greeted by him, the plant-humanoid yelled out his discomfort.

"Tobiiiii! My black side's being mean to me!"

Tobi sighed to himself on the inside. It was so peaceful being by himself. Well, there was no use for chit-chat.

"Zetsu, there's something I would like you to find."

Putting his argument with himself on the side, Zetsu paid fully attention to the man with the orange spiral mask.

"Inside of a temple, there's a mask of a Shinigami. Go retrieve it. It should be located in Uzushiogakure, so check there first."

"Hai! Tobi."

"And one more thing. Give this to our dear Pain before you go to Uzushio," he said handing a scroll over to Zetsu.

"Oo! What's in it?"

"Just information on a potential member for the future. Now go."

And with that. Zetsu disappeared, leaving Tobi alone once again.

* * *

Currently, in the 'nursery' of Orochimaru's abandoned base, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Tenzo were on the topic of Orochimaru's fifteen surviving experiments. They were debating on whether they should be taken to Konoha so they can live a normal life, although the conversation was nearing it's peak.

"...although it would be unethical to keep these kids away from their parents, it would be best if they were trained somewhere else away from Konoha. For the sake of both the children and their parents," stated Tenzo, the man with the unique head protector that covered his cheeks.

"I also agree with him, Jiraiya-sama. If we bring them to the village without checking if they received… well, I guess you can call it a new ability, there might be a chance that they won't be able to control it, harming innocent people around them, including their family," Kakashi said, understanding the risks.

"_Sigh_… I know. Although I don't want to, keeping them away from Konoha to train them does seem like the best decision. Sarutobi-sensei is an understanding man, so there should be no problem," Jiraiya solemnly. "We'll have to train them of course."

Jiraiya received a nod from both of his teammates.

"Now, the only problem left is what do we do with the kid Orochimaru had with him."

"Don't worry about him. I've already decided what I'd do with him long ago" the toad sannin said causing both ANBU-nins to look at him in curiosity.

"And what might that be Jiraiya-sama. I do hope you had Minato-sensei in mind when you made this decision," Kakashi asked a little accusing.

"I would never do anything to cause my student or _my_ godson any gief," Jiraiya said, turning away and pouting, feining sadness.

"Well then, what did you decide to do, Jiraiya-sama," Tenzo spoke up.

"Well, I've decided to make him a resident of Mount Myoboku! He will be the my successor of the toad sannin! Hahahah!" he said with one fist in the air, showing his excitement."

"Would they even agree to that?" skeptically asked Kakashi.

"Don't worry. When I told The Great Toad Sage about it, he agreed. He predicted that Naruto would play a big role in the future of the shinobi world. Fukasaku and Shima also agreed on raising him once they heard Naruto was Minato's son. Hehe… they did really like Minato…"

The room filled with silence for a few moments before Tenzo broke the silence.

"I'll go call for the reinforcements to help with the kids."

"Got it. Me and Kakashi will think of the training and other stuff for the children."

"Hai!" Tenzo shunshined out of the room, as it fell into quietness once again.

* * *

**[AN]: **And that ends the interlude! I hope this chapter met your standards.

Before I go, I'd like to inform you all about the 15 surviving experiments. I really don't want to make 15 different OCs, so to save time I thought about only making 4 OCs and the rest would be the Konoha 11 (Sasuke would replace Naruto).

**Reasons I would do**** this:**

**Reason 1:** I would like each of them to assist in forming Naruto's character. (I'll still try to make it similar to his cannon personality). I also think that him being in the group would help maintain his cheerful trait.

**Reason 2:** This would help set up things for future events.

**Reason 3:** I think having Jiraiya would want Naruto to travel with people with similarities (Even if there are only a few).

If I do go with this, they would only appear for about a quarter of Story 1. If I decide not to include this, then Story 1 would go along much faster.

Please let me know what you think about this. Later!


	3. Know Your Heritage

**[AN]: It's a short chapter. Sorry about that.**

"Talk"

_'Thoughts'_

**[**Written Text**]**

_*Sound Effects*_

**"Alternate/Tailed-Beast Talk"**

**_'Alternate/Tailed-Beast Thoughts'_**

**_Naruto: Rikudo Sennin Project (Story I)_**

_Chapter 1_

_-Know Your Heritage-_

Mount Myoboku, the home of the toads. It was a place with a vast amount of nature. The vegetation was composed of over-sized plants and mushrooms. Steep, rocky, cone-like hills covered the grassy landscape. The environment consisted of many exotic trees that acted as waterfalls, water flowing out from it's choco cornet figure and into murky ponds.

Mount Myoboku was currently the residence that Uzumaki Naruto had been staying at for almost two years; almost five years of age.

Naruto stood at 3ft and 9in. Pretty tall for someone his age. His spiky hair was mustard-yellow with a few hair strands that were colored dark brown. On his face he had he had whisker markings on his cheeks, three on both sides and he had blue eyes. He wore a plain black shirt and a pair of plain black shinobi pants.

For the first few months, after invading Orochimaru's last hideout, Jiraiya had stayed with Fukasaku and Shima, the two elder toads that Jiraiya would entrust his godson to, and assisted in Naruto's upbringing. He left Kakashi, Tenzo, and a few other ANBU-nins in assisting the other fifteen children with their upbringings and training.

During these months, the Two Great Toad Sages and the Toad Sage observed Naruto's natural abilities. They found out that Naruto could speak fluently and his grammar was at the level of an 8 year old. Although they were happy about this, once they heard "Dattebayo" from his mouth, they immediately prayed that Kushina's genes didn't dominate over Minato's genes. Other things they've learned was that Naruto knew what chakra was and how it can be used. He knew basic writing, reading, mathematics, and, to a lesser extent, science. Since Naruto had general knowledge of most things, he knew that Jiraiya was his godfather.

Thanks to a side effect from Orochimaru's experiment, to Naruto his parents weren't dead, he assumed that he was abandoned, something which was hard for him to cope with. Jiraiya, himself found it weird that Naruto didn't ask about his parents, but he let that worry go; Naruto would ask for some questions in due time.

For enjoyment, the little Uzumaki would always play with Gamakichi and Gamatatsu, two toads that were just recently tadpoles, and he loved hearing stories about his godfather's adventures, from his first mission as a Konoha shinobi to his search for inspiration for his novel. Naruto swore he heard something about being promised to marry a girl from a distant village, though he just passed it off as one of Jiraiya's jokes.

Back to the period after the first few months, throughout the rest of the two years Naruto took up his ninja training. Jiraiya started Naruto on basic ninjutsu and taijutsu. He tried to teach the little Uzumaki in genjutsu, but after countless tries, he just taught him how to dispel a genjutsu. Fukasaku and Shima were able to oversee Naruto's training whenever Jiraiya was out.

Jiraiya would occasionally leave to attend other business. Although this saddened Naruto, he knew that as a shinobi, he had his responsibilities. The Toad Sage would be gone from one day to a whole two weeks. During those times out of Mount Myoboku, he would spend most of his time running his spy network.

Jiraiya's present target was Akatsuki and Amegakure. After the incident with Orochimaru, he tried to dig deep into their recent activities, trying to find anything suspicious. Unfortunately, his spy network wasn't able to obtain any information. When Jiraiya wasn't dealing with his spy network, he would use his time to find 'material' for his novel or he would check in on Kakashi and Tenzo to see how the other kids were doing.

Back to the topic.

Naruto's three teachers taught him other stuff like how to use shurikens and kunais, along with the basics of setting-off a trap and how to strengthen his mind and body. Pretty much all the basic Academy lessons Jiraiya knew of.

Jiraiya would also take Naruto to the 'outside world', which would mean out in the shinobi world, so Naruto wouldn't have a hard time dealing with other humans when it was time for him to venture away from Mount Myoboku.

After two years, he kept up this routine and he had proven to be able to advance his training.

* * *

The day was October third, a week away from Uzumaki Naruto's 5th birthday. He wore his usual clothes, with the only difference being the face mask that covered the lower have of his face. Naruto questioned Jiraiya why he had to wear it every time he left Mount Myoboku. And every time he would get a petty excuse.

The overly excited four year old was walking around a town, which was holding a festival, with his mentor and godfather, Jiraiya. For the latter, he was here to meet up with one of his informants from his spy-network, so that left Naruto by himself to do as he pleases the moment he left the little blonde alone.

Naruto was currently walking down a street that had many stands and booths on both side of the streets, lined side-to-side. Some stands had games, some stands had pictures, some stands had food, and some even had masks. Traveling through an aisle filled with so much booths and only one caught his attention.

Yup. The ramen stand.

Running right up to the stand, he quickly jumped onto a stool and yelled, "Oi! Jii-san! One large serving of miso ramen with roasted pork fillet!"

"Coming right up!" yelled back the cook.

After a few minutes, the cook brought Naruto his ramen and he began to chow-down. Lifting his head from the bowl after he finished his meal, he let out a sigh of satisfaction.

"Ahhh… Ramen, the food of the gods. Oh how I love you so much." With a grin engraved on his face, showing his satisfaction, he called out for the cook again so he would get another serving of ramen.

Sitting down, waiting for his next bowl, he began to look over the area around him. His eyes shifted all around until he focused on a group of three people. Two full-grown adults, one male and the other female, and one boy roughly around Naruto's age. He gazed at the happy family with a look of longing. Oh how much he ached for his parents.

Of course, he had no problem whatsoever with being raised by his two 'foster parents', Fukasaku and Shima, and his godfather, Jiraiya. In fact, they were three individuals who the young Uzumaki cherished. No matter what would happen in the future, he would never forget them; they would always be a piece of his heart. It's just that deep inside of him, he yearned for his blood-related parents.

He simply wanted to be a happy child inside of a normal family. He already 'believed' that he was abandoned by his parents; left alone only for him to eventually be picked up by his godfather. Orochimaru was to thank for this, although the boy didn't know that.

After finishing his second bowl of ramen, he found himself unusually full, so he paid the man and left down the isle of booths.

'Family' was the word that intruded in Naruto's thoughts now. Everywhere he looked, his gaze always landed on a family.

He saw a happy family eating dango.

He saw a happy family scooping goldfish.

He saw a happy family cork shooting stuffed animals.

He saw a happy family enjoying time socializing with another family.

He saw a happy family, a happy family that will never be his.

Tired of the scenery, he hid himself inside an alleyway, where he would wait for his perverted godfather to finish whatever he was doing.

Pervy stuff would be the logical reason.

_**(~ S1 ~)**_

Days went by and Naruto was doing warm-up exercises as he waited on Jiraiya to meet him in a clearing of the mushroom forest in Mount Myoboku.

A few days have past since the last trip to the outside world and Naruto could not focus on his training. His thoughts about 'family' always leaked into his mind. From the general understanding he had, parents were supposed to supply their children with unconditional love, right? That was his logic. No matter how hard it was on the parents, they would always treasure their child, always be number one in their life, right?

So, why were they not raising him? Every time he went into the outside world he would see bundles of joyous family everywhere. Why didn't he have one? Why was he not by his parents side? Did he not deserve their love?

Naze?!

For the past few days, these thoughts have been bombarding his head, his anxiety started to build up. And in the back of his head, a dark voice called out to him. At first the voice was rough and it only surfaced inside his mind a few times in the beginning, but then, as days went by, the voice got clearer and clearer. And it always filled his mind with hate.

That voiced resurfaced inside of Naruto's mind, once again.

**"Naze? It's simple, boy. It's because the world is unfair."**

_'The voice. It's back,'_ Naruto thought, resisting to clutch his aching head.

**"Do you want to know why you have no parents? Blame the world, it is the source of your pain."**

_'No, that's not true.'_ Naruto stated, more so to himself than to the voice.

**"Is that what you truly think, boy? If so, then who's fault is it."** The dark voice was now clear to him as he heard it's whispers.

_'I… I don't know.'_ he responded in an unsure tone.

**"Ara? That can't be true. There is always someone at fault. Whether you believe it or not, the world is responsible for your loneliness."**

_'S-Shut up!'_

**"Now, Now. Settle down, boy. Don't be ignorant. You should know how the world works."**

_'W-What d-do you mean?'_ Naruto questioned to the voice in his head. Ya, he had been going to the human world for limited amount of time, but that did not stop him from seeing the disgusting, dark-side of the world. Traveling with a top-class shinobi, it would be dead obvious.

**"The reason happiness exists is because unhappiness exists."**

For some reason, Naruto found truth to the dark voices words.

**"The reason people can live happily is because there are people living unhappily."**

These words filled with malice brought some sort of comfort to Naruto, as he slowly started to except the voices negative beliefs.

**"People benefit from one another's misery. Your despair brings others joy. That is the world's system. Now, tell me boy. Does that sound fair? Should the world choose that you must suffer like this?"** the dark voice questioned Naruto.

_'N-N-No…'_ Naruto replied in a faint whisper.

**"I'm sorry. I couldn't hear you. Can you say it louder?"**

_'N-No.'_ Naruto replied back in a much louder tone. Unfortunately, it was not loud enough.

**"LOUDER!"** he demonically roared out.

_'I said NOOOOO!'_

Naruto's response brought a smirk to the dark voices mouth.

**"That's good to hear. Heh. That's really good to hear. Heh heh. It seems the curse burns strong within you. Now-"**

The dark voice was suddenly cut off. The malice that was slowly building inside Naruto began to fade away. His senses started to come intact again as he felt at peace.

Another voice appeared.

**"Haha. Sorry about that. My friend has quite the temper. Please forgive him."**

As strange as it seemed, Naruto detected no malice in this voice. In fact, he felt like he could trust it. Although, he still didn't anything about the two voices.

_'Who are you guys? Why are you inside my head?'_ the little boy asked in an uncertain tone.

**"Now THAT is a good question. But, unfortunately, now isn't the time, yet."**

_'Huh? What do you-'_ the boy was cut off by the voice again.

**"The truth,"** he simply stated before continuing. **"From a witness in here, your current guardians know the truth about your parents."**

_'What?! Tell me what you're talking about!'_ he demanded.

**"Our time has been short. I'll look forward to accompanying you on your journey. 'Til next time."** And with that, the voice started to disappear. **"Oh, right. Tomorrow is October tenth. Happy Birthday! In advance. See ya."**

Naruto was going to shout to stop, but his concentration was cut off by his mentor.

"Oi! Naruto! Can you hear me!" yelled out Jiraiya.

"Huh? What?" The Uzumaki asked as he shifted from left to right to try and locate the voice that snapped him out of his thought. He soon faced the toad-sannin that was standing right infront of him. "Ah! Ero-jiji."

All Jiraiya did was let out a heavy sigh. He knew Naruto had been acting strange for the past couple of days. He just assumed that he would get over it with time. Seeing that things wouldn't go that way, he decided to ask him what was the problem.

"Naruto," he said seriously." You've been unable to focus on your training for a while. Now, tell what's been up your ass for the passed few days, gaki."

Soon, Naruto found the hatred in him that died down moments before.

"Fine! Tell me! Where are my parents?! Didn't they abandon me?! You know some thing that I don't! So! SPIT IT OUT!" he yelled out in fury, gasping for air at the end.

Jiraiya was not surprised at his question. He had been readying himself for the past two years. It was finally time to reveal his heritage.

"_Sigh_… Alright then. Steel yourself now."

Seeing his godson do as he said, he spoke again.

"Your father was my student, Namikaze Minato."

Naruto had heard that name come up in a moderate amount of Jiraiya's stories. He remembered that he was a genius and probably the fastest person to ever live. He also remembered the title that he wore.

A little dumbfounded at the news, Naruto wanted to verify what he had been told, "W-Wait. By Namikaze Minato, do you mean the Yondaime of Konohagakure? The strongest shinobi in the village?"

"Former strongest shinobi," the Toad-sannin said in a rather slightly depressed voice.

"Former? What do you mean for-"

"I mean former as in 'use to'," he responded, cutting Naruto's question short. His head then tilted down as if the next sentence was supposed to be filled with shame. In a low voice he said, "He died. He died along with your mother, Uzumaki Kushina."

Jiraiya didn't say anymore after that. He waited for the blonde in front of him to sink all the information he was told in his head.

From what the Toad-sannin said being a Kage was a big deal, so that meant that his father was a powerful shinobi. Uzumaki Kushina? Jiraiya had also mentioned her in his stories a few times. From his description, she was a Jounin-level kunoichi and one of the toughest in Konoha. So, that meant he was born from two powerful ninjas, so that meant he could be as strong as them, right?

_'Wait a minute… Did he saw they were dead?'_ Naruto thought to himself. Tears started to surface from his eyes. He blinked a few times to get the water out of his eyes, but it proved to be futile. Mixed emotions of sadness, anger, anxiety, and happiness swirled within him. It was a great relief to him that he wasn't just an unwanted child. At the same time, grief hit him, realizing that his parents were forever gone, unable to ever meet them.

A few minutes passed before Naruto had most of his feeling in check. Jiraiya looked him over a few time before concluding that the boy could take the hit of another secret.

"_Sigh_… That's not all Naruto. Do you remember our talk about the bijuus? And also about the Day of Ochiba?" He received a nod from the boy, prompting him to continuing on, closing his eyes in the process. "Well, your father didn't kill the Kyuubi. He sealed it inside a baby." He opened his eyes and looked at Naruto and saw his confused expression. "There is only a few medians that can hold a bijuu and one of them happens to be a human body, a sturdy body. Naruto, your father sealed half of the Kyuubi within you."

Naruto face distorted into one in surprise, confusion, and sorrow.

_'Was that dark voice I keep hearing the Kyuubi? What was that second voice then?'_ thought Naruto.

Not noticing Naruto's pondering look, Jiraiya was lost in his own thoughts, debating whether he should inform Naruto of his DNA being overwritten. Coming to a conclusion, he decided to hold off on it. The boy didn't need to dwell on another problem right now. He was already trying to deal with his parents death at the very moment, the kid shouldn't be overloaded with more information. Tomorrow was the day of Naruto's birth. Instead of stressing over something no one had control of, he decided that that he was going to over work the kid to make up for the work they would lose tomorrow.

With a smirk, he bopped Naruto on the top of the head a dragged the little Uzumaki to their training spot.

After all, Naruto had BIG shoes to fill.


End file.
